Fruit of the Fallen

Rodan Whirdon

He who would be the Light in the Darkness

Description:

A brief summary

Rodan functions as the primary support for his adventuring party. Favoring ranged magic, he typically damages enemies while providing buffs to his allies, such as temporary HP or a better chance to hit his opponents. He will rarely use normal weaponry, in such scenarios such as long range when he cannot cast his spells. He does not have any special weaponry or items of note (besides the mapS), though he typically carries all of the loot the party cannot divide in a dungeon, as all agree he is the most trustworthy. Rodan’s top priority is making sure the party’s two tanks are conscious and well-off, while focusing down particularly nasty enemies with the devastating Astral Condemnation spell.

Bio:

The Backstory

Rodan was born in the kingdom of Breland, in the city of Ardev. His parents, devoted followers of Erathis, sent him to assist in the founding of a small town at age 12 along with a mentor, Fourtar Shiran. Fourtar Shiran trained Rodan in the art of clerichood, and by the age of 20 Rodan was the assistant priest at the fully constructed Truant’s Pass. In a year, Rodan had learned all he needed to, and his mentor departed the town in order to mentor another.

Rodan met Silden one day in the village. As a pilgrim on her way to Erathis’ temple in Ardev, she was lent a room in the local church. She appeared, by all rights, as a beautiful human woman in his eyes. The two quickly took a liking to each other, and Silden promised to return the village on her return journey.
Silden returned, and spoke her intentions of staying with the village. She explained to Rodan, over a dinner in the church courtyard, of her newfound passion for Erathis’ mission, and asked to become a disciple under Rodan’s guidance. The relationship quickly progressed past mentor and mentee, and soon the two were married a week after Rodan’s 23rd birthday.
The next day, a terrible tragedy befell Truant’s Pass. One of the hunters, Mircon, was found dead in the forest, of a cause most unnatural. The village was scoured, but no perpetrator was found. The next day, a blacksmith was found keeled over his anvil, and thus the death count rose each day for a week before Fourtar was sent for. Fourtar and Rodan began a ritual that would beseech Erathis to reveal the cause of the deaths. However, they were interrupted by an attack by a succubus. Fourtar was knocked unconscious, and Rodan prepared for himself for death. However, the succubus instead revealed herself to be Rodan’s wife. She explained her desire for a game of higher pleasure than simple seduction, a desire for the destruction an entire town and an unthinkable betrayal. She had bound herself to Rodan further than the bonds of marriage, causing Rodan to be a harbinger of doom wherever he went. The succubus would follow him and kill those around him, cursing him to a life of destroying the communities he tried to build. It was with this revelation that she turned to leave Rodan a broken man, when Fourtar awoke and struck at her. He managed a solid blow on the head of succubus, causing her to flee.
Fourtar, knowing now what plagued the town, explained to Rodan that he would have to flee the area in order to assure the safety of the village. His parting gift was the enchantment of Rodan’s holy symbol, an enchantment which Fourtar assured Rodan would succubus from tracking Rodan magically.
Ashamed and betrayed, Rodan fled to the town of Graywall, where he hoped to escape the succubus. There, Rodan found a place in Murkot’s Masonry, a construction business which believed, loosely, in the tenets of Erathis. Rodan was tasked with guarding one of the gangs that regularly repaired the outposts of the city. Rodan worked with Murkot’s for 2 years, of which life was mostly uneventful. Danger was a threat, however, as the city’s outlying regions faced the threat of goblin raids. It was one such raid, during his first year of service at Murkot’s, where Rodan first killed a goblin that threaten the workers repairing a previously damaged tower.
During his second year at Murkot’s, Rodan heard rumors of men disappearing in the night and winding up dead in the morning. Fearing that the succubus had found him again, Rodan fled the city after giving a hasty explanation to the foreman. Unknown to him, the deaths were due to a cult which disguised itself as an underground prostitution ring, in order to easily get sacrifices. The succubus, unable to track Rodan by magic, and completely unaware of Rodan’s presence in Graywall, had been searching Rodan’s home town of Ardev disguised as a beggar. Whilst there, the succubus discovered Rodan’s father. Rodan’s father, an experienced adventurer in his own right, managed to drive her off, at the cost of being crippled in one of his legs.
Fleeing from Graywall, Rodan headed further into the province of Drooam. There, looking for work, he was hired by the House of Therasck, and the current quest commences.

Now, for the truth behind the succubus

After settling down in Ardev with his wife, Rodin Whirdon was ostentatiously done with his years of adventuring. However, the Church of Eberron always needed help clearing old crypts, or rooting out budding cults. During one of his side jobs, Rodin was tasked with helping to hunt down a group of demons that had surfaced near Ardev. All but one of the demons were hunted down. The survivor, a succubus, swore vengeance on Rodin and fled. Rodin stayed on guard, as he had his wife and 1 year old son to protect. However, as a decade passed, he grew more relaxed, and was persuaded by his wife to allow Rodan to take a pilgrimage. 22 years after the initial event, the succubus returned, and would have struck at Rodin, had fate not placed her path through Rodan’s village. After visiting Eberron and seeing that her nemesis was still able of putting up a fight, the succubus choose a more vulnerable target, and stalks him to this day.

Present Day

Rodan’s hiring by the House of Therasck joined him with a group of adventurers. On their first mission, he met face-to-face with the daelkyr Belashyrra, who one his friends had a hidden history with. Now, Rodan must travel the continent of Eberron, fleeing from the evil being as well as trying to prepare the world for the return of the Daelkyr.

The Ashen Crown

The current objective of the adventurers is to recover the pieces of the lost artifact, the Ashen Crown, to help ease tensions with the goblin tribes of Eberron. He will face interference from hostile goblins and the secretive Emerald Claw, but his mission is imperative if all are to survive the coming invasion of the daelkyr.

Rodan’s mission concluded with mixed success. The Ashen Crown was recovered, although the traitorous Tikulti murdered his hobgoblin allies, as well as absconding with the (presumed) deceased Zarra. Fortunately, a last minute miracle stopped Demise, the erstwhile leader of the Emerald Claw, from escaping as well.

However, another betrayal, this time by Rodan’s own government, resulted in him in chains, the Ashen Crown again split between his group, and his allies of the Kordanga. The true price of Demise’s death was also revealed: the protective charm hiding him from the succubus was removed. This became absolutely clear when she led Rodan from the Tower of Inquisition under the guise of a half-elf, saving him from Breland’s torture, but leading him into an unknown fate.

Places Unknown

While the rest of his party deals with the fallout of their escape from the Tower of Inquisition, Rodan must somehow engineer his own from his current predicament. However, as his past sins catch up to him, it is unclear how, if ever, he will do so.

Party interactions

29-A-16

Rodan regards his robot companion with both interest and reserved trust. Having little interaction with Warforged besides legend, Rodan finds 29-A-16 rather simple-minded and gentle-natured compared to the war machines he had heard tales of. 29-A-16 was the first member of the party Rodan had met, and, in fact, 29-A-16 would not even be a member of the group had not Rodan stumbled upon him on his route to assist Doria Veladar. As one of the party’s main damage sponges, Rodan has come to trust 29-A-16 to protect him and the rest of the party from damage, while dealing his/its fair share.

Amrek

Rodan holds a guarded respect for the mysterious ranger from another plane. Amrek first took charge during the harvest of Kyber, and given both his knowledge of those that threaten the party, and his apparent familiarity with tactical command, Rodan sees Amrek as the party’s natural leader when it comes to combat. However, Rodan still regards Amrek with some suspicion , as his past is shrouded in mystery, despite his good intentions.

Xargrax

Rodan holds mixed feelings of Xargrax. He views him as a great warrior, for certain. However, his temper, combined with the fact that Xargrax too apparently has a secret history with the daelkyr Belashyrra, makes Rodan hesitant to call Xargrax anything other than a comrade. However, be that as it may, Rodan will still gladly step into any fight which features Xargrax at the tip of the spear.

Zarra

Rodan views this party member with great suspicion and little trust. Not withstanding her choice of profession, Zarra has on several occasions made moves which would have betrayed the trust of the party, including musing on leaving the party in the middle of a dungeon, and striking Xargrax mid-battle, rendering him unconscious. To be fair to both sides, Xargrax had been mind-controlled for one round, though Zarra had not known this. In essence, Rodan is uneasy about Zarra, but will continue to fight alongside her so long as Zarra does not directly betray the party. His opinion of her is bolstered slightly by her relationship to Doria Veladarr, who, by all means, is an upstanding woman who obviously trusts Zarra.

Rodan’s ideologies/how he deals with people who try to kill him

Rodan holds the opinion that the diplomatic option should always be attempted. Obviously, he will strike down undead or oversized bugs with little thought. However, against cultists or mercenaries, he will at least try and reason with them, or at the very least take them alive. This strategy has paid off several times, including one such time when he convinced a mercenary captain working for the Emerald Claw to betray his masters. Even if it means using unconventional methods, Rodan will always try and end a fight with the most people alive as possible.